Stars who changed weight for a role

Meet the stars who went the extra mile and lost or gained weight for a role...

Jonah Hill

America's sweetheart Jonah Hill is one of those actors that completely embodies their character - making them hard to forget. After his amazing performance in The Wolf of Wall Street and his hilarious role in the saga 22 Jump Street, Jonah had to get ready to play arms dealer Efraim Diveroli in War Dogs.

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For the intense part, based on a true story, he gained *forty pounds* - looking almost unrecognisable on set. And believe it or not the star has already lost almost all the weight, being recently spotted on the streets of L.A. looking super slim.

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Russell Crowe

Russell Crowe is no stranger putting on and losing weight for film roles. for his most recent endeavour, Crowe had to put on weight for The Nice Guys where he had to be the "physical juxtaposition" of his co-star Ryan Gosling. But no fear, he's been clawing his way back through strenuous gym sessions and bike riding...

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Speaking about his weight loss after the film, Russell said: "For an old boy, it's coming along. I was 121.6 kilos the first week of August last year." G'wan, Russell!

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Chris Pratt

When Chris Pratt hit the bigtime for his role in Parks and Recreation he wasn't your textbook TV hunk...

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But since, having had to shape up for action roles in films like Jurassic World and Guardians of the Galaxy, Chris's looking unrecognisable. And in a VERY good way.

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John Krasinski

John Krasinski isn't afraid of the gym - but when he took on the role of Jack Silva in 13 Hours, he probably didn't know how much gym work was required (in very little time)...

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Wow! Here's John Krasinski's new look for his new movie, 13 Hours. Krasinski only had four months to buff up for the role, so he called upon his trainer, Jason Walsh, to help. Talking to Men's Health, he said: “Getting stronger every day is thrilling. I gotta be honest: It was brutal at times - we did tons of metabolic work, dragging sleds and all this stuff I’ve seen NFL players do.” Yikes. All worth it though, just look at him.

Chris Hemsworth

Chris Hemsworth is known for his buff physique, what with playing Thor and being an all-round fittie. But in his new movie he looks a helluva lot different...

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Yep, Chris Hemsworth embarked on the “starvation diet” for his new role in Lost at Sea. He told Jimmy Kimmel that he wanted to look “scrawny” for the role, and did it by dropping his calorie in take to just 500-600 calories a day.Sharing this photo of his dramatic transformation, he wrote: "Just tried a new diet/training program called "Lost At Sea". Wouldn't recommend it.."

So our mouths dropped when the star stepped out to film his new movie Gold with a noticeable paunch and bald patch. It's thought that the actor put on several pounds to play the role of Kenny Wells, who ventures into the Indonesian jungle in search of gold.

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Ben Affleck

Check out Ben Affleck with his bulging biceps - it looks like the muscle he packed on to play Batman has stayed put. Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice is a HUGE role for the 41-year-old actor and he reportedly put on 40lbs after following an eye-watering 5,000-calories-a-day diet. It wasn't all about the calorie counting though - he apparently managed to pump up and sculpt with six gym sessions a week, lasting three to four hours each.

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Jake Gyllenhaal

Jake Gyllenhaal famously lost 30lbs for his role in Nightcrawler. But click on to see what he looks like now - you won't believe your eyes...

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Jake Gyllenhaal

Could this muscleman be Jake? This intense body makeover is for his new movie Southpaw. Antoine Fuqua, the director of Jake's new movie, said: "We literally turned him into a beast. I had him training twice a day in the boxing ring, training him like a fighter. I put him in situations where I wanted to see what he was made of". Antoine also said that the intense training wreaked havoc with Jake's love life: "I think Jake broke up with his girlfriend because he was just in the gym every day." Phwoar!

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Bradley Cooper

Oscar nominated actor Bradley Cooper is known for his blue eyes, floppy hair and a nice, but nothing to write home about, body.

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Bradley Cooper

But now, ladies and gentleman, Bradley Cooper is packing the muscle! Currently filming a Clint Eastwood-directed movie, the 39-year-old hottie has been getting buff to play Chris Kyle, a Navy Seal.

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Chad Michael Murray

Former One Tree Hill star Chad Michael Murray is known for his chiseled features and smokin' hot bod.

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Chad Michael Murray

But in 2014, the former teen actor surprised us all with this dramatic weight loss. Murray lost 25 pounds for his role as a homeless heroin addict in Other People's Children.

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Christian Bale

Christian Bale cuts a svelte figure in a suit and tie on the red carpet but when he’s in front of the camera, you might notice a bit of a transformation.

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Christian Bale

Christian, who’s known to take his roles seriously (read on for more of his on-screen transformations) put on 40 pounds to play chubby conman Irving Rosenfeld in American Hustle. He indulged on junk food, particularly cheeseburgers, leading co-star Jennifer Lawrence to quip: “I finally get to make out with Christian Bale and he's a really fat guy… He's Fatman, not Batman.”

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Chris Hemsworth

We’re used to seeing Chris Hemsworth - who’s known for his role as the super hunky Thor - with bulging biceps and impressive abs. So we never thought we’d see...

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Chris Hemsworth

... the star 20 pounds of muscle down for his new role in Heart of the Sea. Chris, who’s on 500/ 600 calories a day said of his new diet, “I mean, you can consume 600 calories in a milkshake," he explained. "So it ends up being a couple of small salads, a couple of small pieces of protein and that's kind of it and you go to bed hungry. And then you have like a fasting period of 15 hours, like you stop eating completely, and then you have little meals through the day."

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Jake Gyllenhaal

If you’re looking for the whole package - that’s fine features and a muscular physique – then you couldn’t find better than Jake Gyllenhaal.

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Jake Gyllenhaal

That was until he dropped a massive 20lbs for his role in Nightcrawler. "I knew that [Lou] was literally and figuratively hungry, [so I got into the] mode where I was always a bit hungry." Jake seems to have taken his body transformation in his stride: “It's not different than getting into character for anything. It's more about believing where you are and being present where you are. Who's to say what the process is? I have a strange one… But I love what I do."

In order to play the role of a starving peasant, Anne was limited to consuming just 500 calories a day, a quarter of the usual daily allowance. She is thought to have lost 16lbs in three weeks, after producers assigned her a personal trainer, and she ate little more than a couple of apples and a health shake every day. The short-term diet was so drastic, in fact, that film bosses had to hire a doctor to keep a close eye on the star. Celebs Who Have Changed Their Name For FameCelebrities and their not-so-famous siblings

Michael lost two stone in 10 weeks for his role in as a prisoner on hunger strike in Steve McQueen’s Hunger. His weight-loss plan centred on long walks, a yoga DVD and eating a small tin of sardines every evening. "I just knew that I had to do it. I knew all the stuff we had filmed before that was pretty... Special, and I didn't want the last part of the film to break the illusion. I knew I had to get super-thin," he revealed. The actor said he found living on 600 calories a day “liberating” because his libido disappeared for six weeks. “You don't realise how distracting all that stuff can be. Your body streamlines and focuses on what's important. I suppose that's why monks and religious people do it."Celebs Who Have Changed Their Name For FameCelebrities and their not-so-famous siblings

The actor wanted to be fit to play the character, so he hired a personal trainer. “I go there real early in the morning, he tells me what to do, and I go home and go to sleep, and it's like it never even happened.” But, Seth admitted feeling a bit of a hypocrite: “I’ve been eating better and training - and hating myself for it. I feel like a sell out, I feel lame, I feel like a guy I would make fun of.”Celebs Who Have Changed Their Name For FameCelebrities and their not-so-famous siblings

Not really. Tom took four months to lose 55lbs in weight, eating what he described as “miserly” portions. "The hardest thing was the time," he recalls. "I wish I could have just taken a pill and lost all the weight but the reality was that I had to start in October knowing that we were going to go back in February. The idea of looking at four months of constant vigilance as far as what I ate, as well as two hours a day in the gym doing nothing but a monotonous kind of work-out, that was formidable. You have to power yourself through it almost by some sort of meditation trickery. It's not glamorous." Celebs Who Have Changed Their Name For FameCelebrities and their not-so-famous siblings

Speaking of her dramatic weight loss, Mila revealed: “I don’t think I ever fully realized what a human body is capable of doing. But I think I was also, in a beautiful way, incredibly naïve. I believed I could do anything. I never for one moment thought that I couldn’t do it. I believe in hard work. In self-drive and self-worth. I’m a huge foodie, I love food. But when people say, ‘I can’t lose weight,’ no, no, no, you can. Your body can do everything and anything, you just have to want to do it.”Celebs Who Have Changed Their Name For FameCelebrities and their not-so-famous siblings

But Jared ballooned an extra 66 pounds for his role as John Lennon’s murderer Mark David Chapman in Chapter 27. The actor revealed his unsavoury way to gain extra pounds: “My little trick was I would take pints of chocolate Haagen Dazs and put them in the microwave and drink them. The sick thing is I would actually pour olive oil and soy sauce into the mixture as well - to get me bloated even more."Celebs Who Have Changed Their Name For FameCelebrities and their not-so-famous siblings